Has sexual themes and graphic violence, and most importantly it is a dropped story, meaning it will be years and years before I even consider continuing this.
(Xena/Gabrielle, Lila/Minya) Divided into roughly ten parts due to size.
Read Conquering Liaisons pt 1
Disclaimer: Xena, Gabrielle and anything else XWP belong to RenPics and TPTB, and certainly in no way to a certain little dragon.
This is a conquerorfic and contains a fair share of violence. There is mention of sex, and at a certain point a roundabout mention of rape. While I think it should not be too disturbing for anyone’s sensibilities, a warning is only fair so that you can avoid reading if this would upset you.
The most important warning I feel is this; THIS STORY HAS BEEN DROPPED. It is unfinished and shall remain that way for the foreseeable future. I do still hope to return to it sometime, years from now, but for now – and for quite a few years – I am hopelessly stuck.
Conquering Liaisons pt 1 of 10
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson
Chapter 1: The Less Evil Choice
She was already sitting on the bed, expensive clothing discarded haphazardly across the well-worn couch next to the warrior woman's weapons, when they showed the girl in.
Wearing the finest robe the brothel had to offer, besides the one currently worn by the woman on the bed, and nothing else, the young girl exuded fear. The warrior smirked slightly over the fact that the young girl's robe had no fastenings to keep it shut, and the trembling arms seemed to teeter between the desire to cover herself up, and the knowledge that pleasing her customer was imperative to her health.
With a softly spoken command and a simple gesture, the young girl was called upon to come closer to the bed and the figure on it.
The warrior must admit to herself that the brothel Madame had not been exaggerating the beauty of her new acquisition, this young woman was quite splendid. The redgold hair, green eyes, and much more the beautiful facial features that spoke of a gentle innocence very foreign to the warrior's world would have been more than sufficient for the older woman to bed this lovely creature, however that same gentleness stirred something else within the dark woman. Nothing concrete, but it was there.
Another soft command ordered the girl to let the robe fall to the floor, leaving her naked to her customer's eye.
The dark woman let her eyes slowly sweep the landscape revealed her, finding to her surprise it much more to her liking than she had any reason to hope.
"You are quite lovely, girl." The small smile turned wide and quite lascivious. "Indeed, much too perfect to be squandered on drunken soldiers and merchants."
"Come, sit."
The girl trembled but did not move. The warrior woman frowned slightly, and in a movement too quick for the young girl to follow, she had reached out and pulled her down into her own lap. The grip around her hips was deceptively gentle, yet unbreakable, and the young girl dared not truly attempt to break free.
"I will have you one way or the other, girl, which way it will be depends on you." The darkly velvet voice warned, but a small smile teased the edges of the woman's lips as she spoke.
The strong hands on the young woman's hips caressed the nicely shaped behind while the dark woman's eyes raked over her naked form, but other than that no further contact was forced with the warrior woman's own naked body. The younger woman tried to be as still as possible.
"Do you know who I am?" A frightened nod. "Good. And I suppose you have heard all about my many and various sexual perversions, haven't you girl?" Spoken with wry amusement.
The dark woman nodded as if she had received a response. "Yes indeed… to fine a filly to be squandered on oafs and drunks, I say" a smirk " and what I say is law."
"What is your name girl?"
"G-gabrielle, my Lord." The young woman stammered with wide eyes.
"Mmmm. And are you indeed as untouched as Madame Thora says, Gabrielle?" Something in that voice and the smirk that accompanied it was challenging, yet Gabrielle remembered the warning the Madame had given her prior to sending her into the room; always speak the truth, the Lord Conqueror will spot a lie faster than a fly farts, and you'll be the one to smart for it.
"I… have been kissed… once or twice." The fierce blushing that came with that statement made the Conqueror raise an eyebrow in surprise. A feral smile soon overtook her features.
"Ah. Well, like I said before Gabrielle, I will have you, one way or the other. But I give you a choice as to how." In a surprising gesture the Conqueror wrapped the edges of her crimson robe around their joined bodies, as if to keep Gabrielle warm.
"How did you come to be a slave at this brothel, Gabrielle?"
Blinking in surprise at the question, Gabrielle never the less took the opportunity to delay with her story what she feared would come only too soon. "My parents are farmers in Poteidaia. The latest handful of years have been very bad, and finally they had no choice but to sell either myself or my younger sister so that the rest of the family would be able to survive the winter… I volunteered because Lila is only thirteen, and Madame Thora paid my father in full… and I haven't heard from them since."
"I've been here at the brothel for little over two moons now, but Madame said she was saving me for…" Gabrielle's voice didn't quite carry to complete the sentence.
"Me." The purring voice seemed quite satisfied. "And when I've had my fill with you Gabrielle, do you know what your life will be like?"
The hands were back to caress Gabrielle's behind. "Thora is a very just and generous woman for a brothel Madam. Depending on the price she paid for you, you will live the life of an indentured brothel slave for some five years to come, taking on whatever customers she tells you to, in whatever manner you're told to. Then after that you'll be allowed a small percentage of the dinars you make and have the right to say no to a customer if you want to, and in time you might even, if you work hard and save your dinars wisely, earn enough money to buy your freedom from her. Thora is quite unusual like that."
"Of course, by then working the brothel will likely be the only thing you can do, and you may very well chose to stay on as a free woman… the older women here are usually the ones that has chosen that path." The blue eyes of the Conqueror pierced Gabrielle with their almost brutal honesty, there was no way she could doubt that the words spoken were the utter truth.
"By then Gabrielle, you will have been bedded by too many men and women to count, and perhaps you will long have ceased to care who does."
"B-but I had no choice! Lila…" Gabrielle could not keep from sobbing now.
"Hear me out girl, I was not finished. I have gotten it into my head that I will give you a choice." Smiling to herself when Gabrielle straightened and fastened teary green eyes on her again. 'That, and I already cannot bear to think of anyone else touching you.'
"I would offer you the position of my body slave. As such you would be my… lover, and serve me in a multitude of minor but important matters, most of them basically means serving me in my private chambers when other servants are not there to do so. You would be… a companion, of sorts, to ease some of the silence of my personal quarters. You would live in those quarters, at the palace, with me, and your position would be highly elevated from that of all other slaves in the Realm. Food, clothing and entertainment would be provided for you, as long as you serve me well."
The Conqueror's face darkened and her eyes hardened in warning. "Make no mistake Gabrielle, if you choose to be mine, then mine you will be. I will not share you with anyone, nor may you refuse me… If you are mine I will demand nothing other than your complete loyalty! I will not see a hair harmed upon your head if you serve me well, but do believe me when I say that should you betray me your punishment will be harsh."
The voice gentled once again, and she touched Gabrielle's face in a sensuous caress. "Serve me, and serve me well Gabrielle, and I swear to you that neither you nor your kin shall have need for anything dinars can buy. And more, should the day come that I have had my fill of you, of your companionship, then I will give you your freedom back." Gabrielle’s eyes were wide with chock. "But only if you are loyal to me."
The Conqueror was not entirely sure why she argued her case so passionately, either the girl would understand the value of her offer and take her up on it, or she was to ignorant to understand just how dark her future at the brothel would likely be, and refuse. The girl was attractive enough to turn Aphrodite's eye, that was for certain, but that was not reason enough to all but beg the girl to choose a life in the palace before a life at Thora's brothel. And what made her so certain she would even enjoy the company of the younger woman? She sat back a small space and awaited Gabrielle's decision.
A long moment of silence as they merely watched the other.
"…Yes, my Lord." Gabrielle's voice was quiet and trembling, but her eyes held something other than fear as they gazed at the Conqueror. "Thank you, my Lord."
Xena smiled then, and pulled Gabrielle fully into her arms. To Gabrielle's suddenly widened eyes she grinned and spoke in a husky timbre: "Oh fear not my sweet, I have no intention of laying with you here in this place now, when I know we will be completely undisturbed in our own bed not far from here."
"I will see to the details with Thora while you dress, but first… I will have a kiss from those inviting lips."
And then the wide-eyed young girl from Poteidaia discovered that she had been wrong… She had never truly been kissed at all.
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Chapter 2: Learning The Lay Of The Land
It took not long at all for the Conqueror to settle matters with the brothel Madame. In fact Madame Thora was paid many times more the price she herself had paid for young Gabrielle, although she offered the girl as a gift to the dark ruler instead.
Indeed, although Gabrielle herself was not aware of this fact, and Thora would not likely reveal it to the Lord Conqueror, the Madame had bought this Poteidaian slave with the sole purpose of catching the Conqueror's eye - after many years observing the ruler's tastes, she knew this one would fit her well. She had perhaps not counted on that the slip of a girl would appeal to the Conqueror's taste quite so much that she would not wish to part with her, but the knowledge was even so a pleasing one.
In a spur of the moment decision, the Lord Conqueror asked Thora to personally travel back to Poteidaia and the girl's family with a rather large amount of money. Thora would be lent a royal carriage for this purpose, and for that experience, alone, the brothel Madame was more than eager to lend her assistance.
Gabrielle on the other hand had no possessions to collect, and her simple garments of homespun wool, pale and tattered by wear, took mere moments to put on. Before she had even had time to think more closely upon what fate would have in store for her, she was seated in front of the Ruler of the Known World atop a large warhorse, wrapped in the ruler's cloak.
One strong arm was wrapped around Gabrielle's waist and the Conqueror's lips was occasionally dipping in to explore an exposed ear or neck as they rode on, making Gabrielle's skin break out in goose bumps despite her thick covering.
Madame Thora's brothel lay on the outskirts of the city of Corinth, and so Gabrielle had never before seen the walls of the palace courtyard, much less the palace itself. Despite her nervousness and the bleak situation she was in, she could not help but stare awed at the sight before her.
"Home, Gabrielle." The velvety voice purred in her ear, clearly amused by the open mouthed gawking. "…be it ever so humble."
After crossing the courtyard the horses were left to servants, while they continued into the depths of the palace proper. Gabrielle was shocked at the size of the marble and granite passageways, gawked at the decorations she passed, and was terribly intimidated by the group of black, blue and silver-livery dressed guards that silently matched their pace.
More guards were passed occasionally, but wearing other colours, and the corridors seemed endless until one passageway at the end of a large hallway where two of the black-dressed guards stood at attention. Inside was a large hall with two other doors, one smaller where Gabrielle could hear loud voices emanate, and the other was a large, ornate oak door where another pair of guards were posted.
They opened the door for them, and the Conqueror dismissed the other guards with a wave.
Behind that door were a small antechamber, very sparsely decorated, and two more doors. The Conqueror steered Gabrielle to the right door, but paused before pulling it open.
"That door " indicating the left door "leads to what will be your own chamber."
Gabrielle's eyes widened even further, her own chamber? Not even at home, before the times went so bad, had she ever had her own room… but now as a slave she would? She was ushered through the doorway.
"It will have the bare necessities installed later, like your clothes, a chest and a bed. And whatever I'll deem that you need have there, I suppose."
Gabrielle found to her surprise that she was really truly frightened of the prospect of sleeping alone, but wasn't the alternative supposed to frighten her worse? Everything was just so confusing lately.
"Not that I expect you to actually sleep in there." The Conqueror's expression shifted from wry amusement to seriousness in a matter of heartbeats. "You will sleep with me, and you will live with me, in my chambers… That room is just so that you may have a small corner for yourself, where I shall try to interfere as little as I can." A sharp look. "Unless you give me reason to."
A fair warning, and Gabrielle had already decided to try to decipher exactly what rules there were for her new life, so that she would be able to make certain she stayed well within the limits put on her. She could already tell that she did not, under any circumstance, wish to anger or upset her new owner in the slightest.
Her new home proved to be elegant luxury in abundance for a young farmer's daughter's eyes. Everything seemed rich and splendid, yet not gaudy as things tended to be at the brothel. Only the finest materials could be found, that much was apparent even to her, and the best furniture, the loveliest decorations, rugs and tapestries that Gabrielle could have looked at for candlemarks in order to make up stories about. And yet it had a strangely homey feel to it.
With growing trepidation Gabrielle watched the Conqueror make her way across a grand rug near the large fireplace to get a decanter. The girl just knew she would stumble on the edge of that rug one day when she had something invaluable in her hands, and completely destroy something along the lines of a priceless Chin vase, after all her mother had always said she was clumsy.
The Conqueror noticed the fearful gaze directed at her thick Persian rug, and wondered what about the warm, soft material could possibly inspire such a look. It didn't even feature her as the centrepiece, so surely it wasn't that offensive?
But ah, the rug must be easier to face than the Ruler of the Known World right now, especially for a brand new young body slave. The dark woman felt compassion, and thought of a way to put the girl a little more at ease.
"This is where I receive people if I grant them audience in private, and it also serves as my study." Pointing to a large oak desk littered with scrolls and a huge painting of the Known World mounted on the wall above it. "In that alcove over there is where we dine, unless we use one of the palace many dining rooms. In the room at the back there we have the bedroom."
Wineglasses in one hand and the decanter in the other, she indicated by the toss of her head that Gabrielle should enter before her.
Gabrielle found herself thinking that the bedroom alone would be as large, if not larger, than her home in Poteidaia. Another large fireplace was in this room, and a large lounging area filled with divans and soft pillows, and an enormous black bearskin rug right in front of the fireplace. Then there were a few small steps up to the other part of the room, which held a huge beautiful canopied bed large enough to house all those blackdressed guards that were standing in the outer corridors.
She spotted yet another door, and felt quite dizzy with all the twisting and turning she had done so far. The other woman noticed her distressed look, and smirked.
"Don't worry, that one goes to the bath and toiletries. And on the other side of the bathroom is your chamber, so you see we've gone in a circle." She smiled more kindly at Gabrielle. "Don't worry about finding your way around, I won't be sending you off on your own until you're comfortable with your surroundings." A thoughtful look. "Actually, I may not wish to send you off anywhere unescorted at all… You may have to learn to live with having a member of the Royal Guard somewhere in the vicinity whenever you leave this area of the palace. I will have to give that some thought."
She would be allowed to move around at will? Had Gabrielle somehow misunderstood this concept of slavery? Because none of this sounded nearly as bad as the stories she had heard at home…
They moved on to a mass of large, comfortable looking pillows, and the dark woman indicated where Gabrielle should sit as she made herself comfortable. Gabrielle complied nervously, but was quickly lost in the intricate embroidery on one of the smaller pillows near her.
"That is supposed to be Zeus, seducing Leda in the form of a swan." Smirking at the obvious perusal, and handed over one of the glasses before pointing at another pillow. "Now that one is from a place called Japa, and it is about two lovers, Vega and Altair, that can only be together once every year when their stars meet."
The Conqueror smiled as she got Gabrielle's complete and undivided attention.
"I take it you like stories, Gabrielle?" Gabrielle nodded shyly in answer. "I'll have to show you my Royal Library then, it is quite extensive. But have a taste of your wine, it is quite sweet."
Gabrielle had caught sight of one pillow where the Conqueror rested her arm. She did not dare ask, but when she glanced at it once more the other woman realised what she wanted.
"This? Yes, that is me, when I killed the Nemeian lion." She smiled wryly and handed the pillow over to the curious young woman. "Do you know that story?"
"Yes… Yo-ah, err, I mean my Lord, my Lord strangled the beast with your own bare hands, even though it was the child of Echidna herself, and that is why my Lord is sometimes called the Lion of Amphipolis."
"Relax Gabrielle. When we are not in public I want you to call me Xena. " She smiled reassuringly at the wide-eyed girl. "When in public though, you'll do better to refer to me as 'My Lord', although you needn't bother with all those other cumbersome titles."
"And the story is true, as you will be able to tell for yourself sometime when I show you the trophy room, although I did have some help." Xena grinned mischievously. "I wore gauntlets with heavy spikes dipped in poison. The storytellers all seem to forget that part of the tale, just as they seem to forget that Echidna got rather upset with me because of that, and that is the real reason I ended up killing all those other monsters."
"But enough about me. Tell me about you, Gabrielle."
"M-me? But I am nobody interesting…"
Xena reached out to take Gabrielle's hand, removed the wineglass and pulled her forward, patting at a spot between her own knees. "You are interesting enough to catch the eye of the Ruler of the Known World, Gabrielle… Or are you challenging my taste?"
Shaking her head empathically while blushing badly, Gabrielle anxiously knelt at the indicated spot.
_Facing_ Xena.
Raising one eyebrow, Xena gave a delighted but amused smile at that. "Pleased though I am that you are that eager to serve me, my sweet, I nevertheless had something else in mind."
And turned Gabrielle around so that her back faced Xena, then she pulled the younger woman to rest upon her shoulder. "There, that is nice." Followed by a contented sigh.
Gabrielle was blushing furiously by now, and she was quite stiff in Xena's embrace. Xena smirked, and leaned in to a glowing red ear to whisper ardently. "I am sure that before too long there will be no nook or cranny in these chambers that does not speak to me of your sweet taste and the feel of your soft skin upon mine, that will not carry the echoes of the sounds of our ecstasy."
"These pillows will see us in levels of pleasure the likes of which Leda and Zeus never imagined, I'm sure." Xena turned Gabrielle's face so she could kiss her with barely controlled passion.
"But for now my sweet… Let's talk. Let me know the woman who will share my life and my bed."
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Chapter 3: Gabrielle of Poteidaia
Gabrielle's story began haltingly, in a shy voice as the young woman sat stiffly, propped against the Ruler of the Known World.
But lifelong habit and only barely suppressed nature soon loosened Gabrielle to her audience of one, and the story itself, though simple, became her focus.
"I was born in the village of Poteidaia, and I have lived all my life there."
"Poteidaia is a small village where most people breed goats, that are sold in the market of the nearby villages. There lives an herbalist that serves as our healer, a blacksmith, and a seamstress, and the mayor is also the innkeeper. There is no school for the children, and we do not rate a village temple, although every family keeps a small shelf where we honour the gods in one way or the other."
"It is only a short distance away from the garrison at Amphipolis, since it lies a ways out from the village itself, so sometimes soldiers will come to Poteidaia to visit the inn, but it is not often."
"My father, Herodotus, inherited his land from his father, as his did in turn, and he has always regretted the fact that he has no son. He married my mother, Hecuba, while they were both young, but for a long time it seemed they would have no children at all. Then, after delivering first me, then my sister Lila, it turned out that mother could bear no more children, and father would not have a son."
"My parents are getting on in years, but they work hard tending the flock and the crops. I've helped with the chores since I was little, as all children do, but my foremost duty growing up was looking after my little sister. In fact, my first real memory is of Lila, and how mother tells me that it is my responsibility to take care of her. And I did."
"When I was too small to carry her myself, she was tied to my back while I did other chores, and when she got bigger I could keep her with me by telling her stories. She probably didn't understand much of my silly little stories to begin with, but she would listen to my voice and not cry or try to go play somewhere else. I can't remember a time when Lila wasn't there."
Xena was glad that Gabrielle was facing towards the fire, as too much of the girl's story cut too close to home for her, and filled her with the sadness from her own past. And sympathy for the diligent, hard working child who wasn't allowed to be a child for very long.
"Our family was not rich, but the land and the animals kept us well fed and clothed, and even allowed for a few extra things now and then. That is, until the goat plague stuck that year, killing nearly two thirds of all the goats in the village. My father lost nearly all his stock, and when the drought struck the year following that, we were ruined."
"Others did fare better, such as Perdicus' family. Father loaned some money in order to get himself back on his feet, but it was one setback after another, and soon he was too indebted even for them. They had loaned us the money in the first place basically because we would be family, and it would be better for Perdicus if father got the herd back and the land to work again before Perdicus would have to deal with it."
Xena frowned darkly, somehow she did not like the sound of this. "Who was this Perdicus?"
"Oh!" Gabrielle blushed again. "Perdicus is my childhood friend, and he is also the boy I was supposed to marry."
Gabrielle might not have seen the first startled, then murderous expression on Xena's face, but she did feel the woman give a start, and most certainly how the strong arms around her tightened uncomfortably.
"Uhh, umm, well it is the custom in Poteidaia that fathers agree upon arranging future marriages between their children while the children are quite young, especially the first born ones. It was that way with me, my father and Perdicus' father decided when we were very little that we would marry when we'd grown up, and Perdicus would become my father's heir. We knew we were betrothed, of course, but as children it only meant that our mothers approved of us playing together. Which meant that whenever we weren't working, me, Lila, Perdicus and our friend Seraphin would go and get into one mess or another."
"When we got older, things changed. There were…expectations." Gabrielle looked very uncomfortable at that, and Xena was thinking of a long list of things to do to hapless goat herders.
"That's where the, umm, kissing thing came into the picture. Anyway, the day that was decided upon to be Perdicus' and my wedding day was the first day of the harvest festival on the year that the drought struck, so by unspoken agreement it was postponed a year. Then Perdicus' family wanted us to wait until father got the farm back together, but when father kept failing… I was never told exactly what was said, only that father came back from a meeting with Perdicus' father and told me that the betrothal was off."
"Did it… bother you? That you would not marry this…" Xena was surprised to find that she could not make herself say the name. "goat herder?" Well he was, surely that can't be too offensive?
"No, not at all! You see, Perdicus and I, well, we…" Gabrielle was silent for a long while. "We were friends growing up. The man… wasn't even my friend, not really. But I was never asked what I wanted…"
"When the marriage would not happen, Perdicus' family wanted their money back, and we didn't have any. There were other offers for me, but none that father approved of, so I talked to the mayor and got his promise that I could work in the inn for him, that I could sleep in the kitchen and he would feed me, and I would give my earnings to father. I also got Lila an apprenticeship to the seamstress, and that would bring in some dinars too."
"I honestly thought father would approve, but that evening Madame Thora had approached him with her offer. Father made it clear to me that no matter what I said, either Lila or myself would be leaving with Madame Thora that evening…"
"He knew you would agree to spare your sister… the bastard! So, when he could wheedle no more out of your would-be suitors, and rather than having to wait a while for the dinars you would manage to earn for him, he sold his oldest child as a slave. Not to a merchant or a farmer, but to a brothel! Like so much cattle!" Xena was truly enraged by Herodotus' behaviour, but tried to control herself not to frighten the girl further. "Your mother, Gabrielle, what did she do during all this?"
Silence.
"Gabrielle?"
"…she took the two dinars I had already earned at the inn from me, because she said I wouldn't need them anymore where I was going."
Xena opened her mouth to spout some kind of profanity over Gabrielle’s parents, but was stopped short when the young woman started crying inconsolably in her arms. Heart wrenched by the pitiful sound, she did somewhat awkwardly try to hold Gabrielle close and offer her comfort.
'This was not quite what I had in mind when I thought she'd be more relaxed if I could get her to talk to me. I wanted her in my arms, yes, but somehow I had a more joyous experience in mind.'
But all the same Xena held Gabrielle quite gently as she wept, wishing only that she could think of something to make Gabrielle's sorrow go away.
Xena The Conqueror, Ruler of The Known World, and the most powerful and legendary woman in that world, sat holding her weeping young slave for a long time, until Gabrielle finally ran out of tears.
Cradling Gabrielle closer in her arms and burrowing her face into Gabrielle's hair, Xena sighed dejectedly. "Here I thought we would speak for a while, indulge in some sweet wine and maybe get to know one another a little, before ending the night with you in my arms, in bed, showing you the gift of Aphrodite. Instead I make you sad, and make you cry, and I would be a cad to do anything more than maybe hold you through the night. Simply an act of brilliance."
"I-I'm sorry My Lord." Gabrielle sniffled.
"No no, shh." Xena kissed her gently. "You have nothing to apologize for." Another kiss, deeper and longer this time. "Gods, but you have sweet lips Gabrielle! I could come to crave a daily dosage of these remarkable lips, quite easily."
Xena rested her forehead against the younger woman's, and wondered if there was any chance she truly could control her burning libido for another night. She allowed herself another kiss before pulling at Gabrielle, intending to stand them both up from their semi-reclined position.
But that last kiss did Gabrielle in, and the day's intense emotional upheaval left her inhibitions on too shaky grounds, allowing her to follow a more instinctive response. Moaning slightly Gabrielle used Xena's pull upward to search for another kiss, inadvertently toppling them both in the process.
What followed was far more intense, and infinitely more hot than previous kisses, as neither woman thought of a reason not to indulge in their passionate exchange. After long moments of heated kisses and touches, Xena finally moved back just a little.
Shaking her head slightly to clear it, Xena gazed into green eyes mere inches from her own, in a face flushed from their activity. She shivered slightly and growled deep in her throat as she could see a desire in those eyes that matched her own.
Unsteadily Xena got to her feet, bringing Gabrielle with her since she simply refused to let the other woman go for even a moment, and whispered huskily into her ear. "Bed?"
Gabrielle was beyond coherence at this point, but the eager clinging did not seem like a rejection, so Xena carried the now rather passionate young woman across the floor.
The worn peasant clothes did not survive Xena's frantic search for Gabrielle' skin, and her own fine garments caught a tear or two before they, too, were impatiently shed. Once naked, Gabrielle's ardour cooled ever so slightly, and anxiety moved back in place.
Xena noticed, and pulled Gabrielle back into her arms. With her lips against Gabrielle's ear she asked "Do you wish to… deny me?"
Her voice was gentle, without malice or threat, but something Xena had said to her in the brothel suddenly sprung to Gabrielle's mind. 'Nor may you refuse me', that was what Xena had said at that time. So was she genuinely giving Gabrielle a choice now, or was she testing her? Was she free to actually say no?
And did it matter?
As she gazed into those incredibly blue eyes Gabrielle came to the conclusion that no, it didn't really matter. Because as frightening as it may be, 'no' was not what her heart was telling her right now.
She smiled shyly and shook her head emphatically. And got a startling reward in Xena's wide, delighted smile.
Soon, in the middle of that luxurious ocean of a bed, all wrapped in satin sheets and one most warm and hot-blooded warrior, the young woman from Poteidaia found myriads of sensations and feelings that not even her active mind had been able to imagine before.
Everything was new, unexpected and exciting. Lips and hands and even teeth, all traced a map of sensations that had Gabrielle breathless with desire. Then Xena dipped down to indulge in a different taste of Gabrielle's sweetness, and Gabrielle found her voice. With a vengeance.
Gabrielle came quite vocally from the diligence of Xena's lips, tongue and hands, and once her energy was spent, she lay back down trying to catch her breath. But when she heard Xena's growl she opened her eyes again, and was shocked to see a feline predator stalk its way back up her body.
"Gods woman, I could come just listening to you!" Xena's hungry look caused Gabrielle's heartbeat to speed right back up once more. And then Xena was upon her again.
"Spread your legs for me, my sweet."
Xena moved upon her, and gasping Gabrielle responded. Closing her eyes, Gabrielle moved with Xena as she, with firm hands and a mounting sense of urgency, ground her sex into Gabrielle's. Soon Gabrielle was approaching that pinnacle again, but Xena's shaking voice in her ear called her back from the brink.
"G-gabrielle? May I…?"
Gabrielle had no idea what the question was, and frankly didn't care as long as they just didn't stop quite yet. And she could not have answered Xena anyway. But silence apparently was answer enough, because Xena withdrew for a brief moment.
Gabrielle frowned and opened her eyes, just as Xena once again sought her lips in a hot exchange. But there was something down there that had not been there before, rubbing gently at Gabrielle.
Moving together again, Xena's arms gripped Gabrielle just a bit tighter, and in one, smooth motion, Gabrielle was entered.
Gabrielle cried out at the sudden pain, but Xena touched and kissed so gently and soothing, until the sting of pain was far less than the desire to continue, to reach that summit. Moving in unison, the held back desire was so great that it did not take them long to peak, Gabrielle's loud cry accompanied by Xena's low-pitched one.
Gabrielle had not the energy left in her to open her eyes when Xena gently withdrew from inside her and left the bed. She did begin to protest, however, when moments later she felt Xena reaching for her thighs.
"Sshh my sweet, I'm only going to clean you a little." Xena's voice was as gentle as her hands as she carefully wiped Gabrielle with a wet cloth.
That done, Xena laid down next to Gabrielle and wrapped her arms tenderly around the young woman, kissing and caressing her lovingly. Feeling a sense of contentment she never had experienced before, Gabrielle burrowed her head into a convenient shoulder, sighed softly, and went to sleep.
The last thing she heard of Xena's whispered endearments was a sleepy but still solemn oath.
"Oh my sweet Gabrielle, I promise I will never consciously hurt you when we make love ever again. I swear it."
2 comments:
o.O ...ok was that what i think that was..?
hmm, strangely...erotic in this situation :P
Spikesagitta,
*chuckles* I have to say that it was weird for me to write that, on several levels, but there is actually a reason for why that is in there. It would have been rather hard to make them surprise pregnant otherwise. XP
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